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- Herausgeber: Council of Europe
- Kategorie: Geisteswissenschaft
- Sprache: Englisch
Education is to society what oxygen is to living beings: we cannot exist without it...
The Council of Europe Reference Framework of Competences for Democratic Culture (RFCDC) sets out 20 competences our education system should develop in students to prepare them for lives as active citizens in democratic societies. The competences included are organised in four clusters: values, attitudes, skills and knowledge and critical understanding.
This publication explores how the RFCDC can be used in higher education. As much as any other level of education, higher education fosters a culture of democracy through the transversal competences it develops in all its students, the way in which institutions are run, how the members of the academic community interact, and how higher education institutions see themselves and behave as actors in society at large. The full implementation of the RFCDC (or “CDC Framework”) requires a whole-institution approach that makes the promotion and fostering of competences for democratic culture an institutional priority for policy as well as practice. This guidance document offers suggestions for teaching, learning and institutional policy.
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REFERENCE FRAMEWORKOF COMPETENCESFOR DEMOCRATIC CULTURE(RFCDC)
Competences for democratic culture in higher education
Council of Europe
The opinions expressed in this work are the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official policy of the Council of Europe.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be translated, reproduced or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic (CD-Rom, internet, etc.) or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or any information storage or retrieval system, without prior permission in writing from the Directorate of Communication (F-67075 Strasbourg Cedex or [email protected]).
Photos: iStockphoto.comCover design and layout: Documents and Publications Production Department (SPDP), Council of Europe
Council of Europe PublishingF-67075 Strasbourg Cedexhttp://book.coe.intFacebook.com/CouncilOfEuropePublications
Paper ISBN 978-92-871-9021-5© Council of Europe, July 2020
Printed at the Council of Europe
Contents
Chapter 1 – Why competences for democratic culture are important for higher education
Chapter 2 – Who is this guidance document for?
Chapter 3 – Purpose and overview
Chapter 4 – The specificities of higher education
Chapter 5 – Developing and practising competences for democratic culture in higher education
5.1. Teaching and learning
5.2. Research
5.3. The civic role of higher education
Chapter 6 – Governance and competences for democratic culture
Chapter 7 – Whole-institution approach
7.1. The added value of a whole-institution approach to CDC
7.2. Institutional governance and culture and co-operation with the community
7.3. How to apply a whole-institution approach to developing CDC in practice
Chapter 8 – Ways forward
References
Chapter 1
Why competences for democratic culture are important for higher education
Education is to society what oxygen is to living beings: we cannot exist without it. But if society cannot thrive without education, nor can education exist meaningfully except in the context of society.
Education is essential for developing the kind of societies we want through the fulfilment of its multiple objectives listed in the box below.
► Preparation for sustainable employment.
► Preparation for life as active citizens in democratic societies.
► Personal development.
► Development and maintenance, through teaching, learning and research, of a broad, advanced knowledge base.Source: Council of Europe (2007)
Education, including higher education, is also essential for the development and preservation of democratic societies. Figure 1 shows the competence model of the Reference Framework of Competences for Democratic Culture (RFCDC), listing the 20 competences that individuals require in order to function as democratically and interculturally competent citizens. Often referred to as the “butterfly”, the model was developed by the ad hoc expert group for the RFCDC, starting in December 2013, and was adopted by European Ministers of Education in April 2016. The model, the descriptors of competences and the guidance for implementation together constitute the RFCDC (Council of Europe 2018a, b, c).
Figure 1: Competence model “butterfly”
Source: Council of Europe (2018a)
To fulfil the democratic mission of education, including higher education, we must be able to specify – in the form of learning outcomes of an education programme or course – what students should know, understand, be able and also willing to do, as both citizens and professionals. Deciding what we are willing to do and what we are not willing to do is crucial: democracy requires ethical reflection. The “butterfly” attempts to succinctly present these learning outcomes, which apply – with specificities – to all levels of education.
Democratic culture concerns higher education as much as any other level and strand of education. Higher education fosters a culture of democracy through the transversal competences it develops in all its students, the way in which institutions are run, how the members of the academic community interact, and how higher education institutions see themselves and behave as actors in society at large. Competences for democratic culture (CDC) cannot be developed, for any education level or setting, if they are taught for only a few hours a week and forgotten the rest of the time. CDC should not be taught in political science or law classes alone, only to be forgotten when it comes to linguistics or physics, campus life, or the way in which students and staff conduct themselves on and off campus.
The full implementation of the RFCDC (or “CDC Framework”) requires a whole-institution approach that makes the promotion and fostering of CDC an institutional priority for policy as well as practice. CDC are not an academic discipline in their own right, and are not specific to any discipline. Rather, a culture of democracy should permeate all aspects of an institution’s life. While the whole-institution approach is described in Chapter 7 of this document, aspects of CDC relating specifically to teaching and learning, research, the civic role of higher education and governance are described in Chapters 5 and 6, with indications of how CDC may be developed within each kind of activity.
Chapter 2
Who is this guidance document for?
This guidance document is intended for higher-education policy makers and practitioners: in other words, those involved in the development, provision and/or assessment of higher education and its role in furthering the values, attitudes, skills and critical knowledge and understanding required to develop and maintain a culture of democracy.
These include, first and foremost, teaching staff and students but also administrators and leaders in higher education institutions such as rectors, vice rectors, deans and heads of department. They further include policy makers such as ministry officials and other representatives of public authorities responsible for higher education, quality assurance agencies and other bodies with a public mandate, as well as stakeholder organisations such as those representing students, higher education staff, higher education institutions, or employers.
By its very nature, a culture of democracy should extend to all those present on campus regardless of their role, from ancillary staff to professional service staff, from academics to administrators, from students to members of the governing board.
CDC are relevant to – and can and should be implemented throughout – all strands and levels of education and training. Training is understood to focus on the provision of practical skills, while education is seen as a more comprehensive process aimed at equipping students with the skills and competences required to develop a considered view of the role of their own speciality in a broader societal and philosophical context. While CDC are therefore relevant to all parts of tertiary education, the present guidance document focuses on higher education, the specificities of which are described in Chapter 4.
Chapter 3
Purpose and overview
This guidance document explores how the CDC Framework may be used in higher education at all levels, in all academic disciplines and within all study programmes, whether academically or professionally oriented. The CDC Framework builds on a whole-institution approach: it relates not only to courses and study programmes but also to all aspects of a higher education institution.
The document should be read in conjunction with, and may be complemented by, other CDC guidance documents, in particular those that take a transversal approach. These include the guidance on curriculum development, pedagogy and assessment (Council of Europe 2018c, Chapters 1, 2 and 3).
The CDC Framework is above all relevant to the development of CDC in and through higher education, at all levels and strands. This crucial mission of higher education is the focus of the present document, which considers the broader role of higher education in developing CDC in its students but also in teaching/research and technical and administrative staff. It addresses higher education institutions as a type of community, and looks at how democratic culture can be fostered through and within that community; it also looks at how the academic community could help develop CDC in the broader society of which it is a part.
The CDC Framework is also pertinent to higher education in more specialised contexts: through the pedagogical preparation of teachers in higher education and in teacher education, that is, through the role of higher education in the preparation of future primary and secondary school teachers and the in-service training of primary and secondary school teachers. Initial teacher education as provided at higher education institutions is addressed in a separate guidance document (ibid., Chapter 4: 75-88) and will therefore not be dealt with here. The pedagogical preparation of higher education teaching and research staff is addressed by the present guidance document without being the focus of it.
The reasons for drawing up a specific guidance document for higher education are bound up with the specificities of higher education, which are explored in Chapter 4. These include the fundamental values of academic freedom, institutional autonomy and student and staff participation in institutional governance, which are key features of higher education in Europe. These fundamental values were highlighted by the Ministers of the European Higher Education Area (EHEA) at their conference held in Paris on 24 and 25 May 2018. Other specificities include the fact that the vast majority of higher education students are legally adults and therefore have voting rights and the right to run for election in their country of citizenship, in some cases also in their country of residence if different. In addition, the significance of the powerful roles of different stakeholders applies more to higher education than to other areas and levels of education. Higher education is also characterised by a broad diversity of specialised study programmes and a high degree of institutional autonomy. Unlike in primary and secondary education, there are no national curricula in higher education; however, higher education qualifications are part of national qualifications frameworks and are subject to external quality assurance. Not least, higher education institutions and members of the higher education community also engage with broader society in ways that differ from primary and secondary education.
